On March 31, 2020, the world had stopped and the Spanish kept their breath confined to their homes, coinciding with the date on which broke the record for deaths from coronavirus: 849 according to official figures, although 1,342 more deaths were recorded than expected according to statistics. That same day, businessmen Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño received several transfers from Malaysia for their intermediation in a medical material contract with the Madrid City Council, for a total of 999,882 dollars for the first and 2,999,880 for the second.
From that moment on, both began a frenetic activity of spending on luxury items to dispose of those amounts that, according to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, correspond to commissions derived from an aggravated fraud to the town hall by the masks, test to detect covid and gloves that the officials of the municipal funeral home needed.
This is evidenced by a report from the Tax Agency last September, to which it has had access THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAIN, a newspaper belonging to the same editorial group as this medium. In less than a week there were very significant outflows of funds from the accounts of the commission agents: on April 2, Medina had already transferred 93,000 euros from his account as the first payment to a Dutch shipowner for the construction of the yacht ‘Feria’, while Luceño released his commission on the 6th of that month with the purchase of a Mercedes-AMG worth 50,000 euros, and the following two days he bought another mercedes scl (54,000 euros) and a Ferrari 812 (200,000 euros). They were just the first.
The story of this ‘express pitch’ starts as soon as the state of alarm decreed by the Government of Pedro Sánchez begins, since the investigation places the days prior to March 18 the first contact between the businessmen and the person in charge of the General Coordinator of Budgets and Human Resources of the Madrid City Council, Elena Collado, facilitated by a relative of the mayor, the lawyer Carlos Martínez-Almeida.
From then on, as reflected in the actions that are already in the hands of Judge Adolfo Carretero, contacts took place via email and also by ‘WhatsApp’ between the businessmen and the municipal official until a contract was signed with Madrid City Council on March 24, for nearly 12 million euros, after present Luceño as exclusive agent with factories at their disposal in China to access the products, which were then scarce on the international market. This position of dominance was false, as research has shown.
According to the summary, Luceño and Medina manage to contact and contract the purchase of the material through the Malaysian company LENO, and the advances are celebrated by Luceño in emails that he sends to his partner as dated March 30, when with a very expressive phrase‘pa takes it out‘) announces the completion of the transfers that both receive just one day later. Luceño adds something more to his income statement with two subsequent shipments, on April 13 (1,633,366.61 dollars) and on the 23rd of that same month (276,674.05 dollars).
Precisely that March 31, the Government was forced to approve a new package of economic and social measures to minimize the impact of covid on the most vulnerable groups. Among the 50 measures adopted through the Royal Decree-Law, the expansion of beneficiaries of the electricity social bond, redemption of contributions made to pension plans, prohibition of evictions Y payment moratoriums of social contributions for companies and the self-employed.
A whitewashing company?
In that period, the analysis of Luceño’s accounts reflects the expenditure made in twelve luxury vehicles, up to just over two million euros, although not all of them were placed in his name. As reflected in the Prosecutor’s own complaint, with the exception of an Aston Martin DB 11 valued at 160,000 euros, these vehicles were invoiced in the name of the company Takamaka Invest SL, of which Luceño is administrator and sole shareholder, and to which imputed the collection of commissions received for the purchase and sale of sanitary material.
On the date of constitution of this entity, a notarial deed also in the summary places it on May 26, 2020, that is, just two months after the commissions were received. A few days before, on May 8, the businessman had transferred 3,353,500 euros to a new current account under the concept “Pending Commissions” with which he paid a house in Pozuelo de Alarcón for 1,107,400 euros and five high-end cars for just over a million euros.
Also included in the Treasury report are the transfers to a jewelry store on Calle Serrano in the capital of 42,450 euros per three watches, two Rolex and a Cartieralthough these effects were acquired somewhat later, in October 2020, weeks before he began to be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office after the notice given by the Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering (Sepblac) after the warning of the banking entities.
From a million to 5,000 dollars
As far as Medina is concerned, the Tax Agency report indicates that the million dollars from his commission came from Leno precisely on March 31 when the greatest pressure was recorded on the hospital system since the start of the pandemic. Even the Health spokesman, Fernando Simón, appeared from his house convalescing from the virus.
However, the son of the Duke of Feria moved fast and transferred practically all the money to a second account, leaving a balance in the first that barely exceeded $5,000 in November 2020. From the second account, 93,700 euros were transferred 48 hours later to Leonardo Yachts, a purchase entity. sale of yachts in the Netherlands to which similar amounts of money were remitted until August of that year. The report details other payments, including to his lawyer, Carlos Texidor, and to a luxury real estate agency, as well as the purchase of two bank deposits for 400,000 euros that are also indicated as possible money laundering by Anti-Corruption.